1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to beverage container holders generally and, in particular, to vehicle beverage container holders which can be moved from a concealed storage position to an open use position.
2. State of the Prior Art
Concealable container holders for vehicles are particularly useful in motor vehicles where space conservation and aesthetics are prime concerns. When not in use, a concealable container holder can be stored in a dash board or arm rest, thereby freeing the space occupied by the container holder and removing it from the sight of the driver and passengers. Minimizing the storage size of container holders is particularly important when the unit is designed to hold multiple containers.
In recent years, vehicle manufacturers have provided beverage container holders in vehicles as original equipment. However, many of the past implementations have included those using shallow cylindrical recesses formed in the back side of the glove compartment door or a deep cylindrical support recess located in the armrest or console into which a beverage container or cup can be placed. Both structures have drawbacks. Deep cylindrical recesses in the armrest or console holder gather dirt and foreign matter which may be difficult or inconvenient to remove. In order to provide storage space in the glove compartment, its door offers little lateral support to the beverage container. Therefore, the container can easily be spilled when a moving vehicle makes a sharp turn or hits a bump. Also, the contents of the open glove compartment can be jarred and fall from the open compartment while the car is moving.
Previous beverage holders have been mounted in a dash panel and in armrests. These arrangements have typically provided lateral support as well as vertical support but some designs have been able to hold only a single beverage container holder. Space for simultaneously holding two containers has also been desirable. Such a beverage container holder must necessarily conserve space yet hold up to two beverage containers at a time. In addition, because of the variety of beverage container shapes, beverage container holders must be adaptable to securely hold various different sizes and shapes of beverage containers.
Although many different designs of container holder designs have been disclosed, the majority of the designs embody a sliding mechanism to remove the holder from its concealed position. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,146. A beverage container holder is either rotatably or slidably disposed in a vehicle. As the holder is either slid or rotated out of its retracted position, two opposed C-shaped members form a recessed holder for a single beverage container. One of the C-shaped members can be rotatably disposed from the other C-shaped member thereby forming two recesses for holding two beverage containers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,277, a beverage container holder is also slidably disposed in a vehicle's center console. The holder may be slid forward from its stored position in the console. As the holder is slid out of the console in a drawer-like fashion, a pair of arcuate arms pivot outward from the center of the upper portion of the holder. The arcuate arms are adjustable and, in conjunction with an arcuate recess in the upper portion of the holder forms, engage the sides of a beverage container. The container bottom rests on a lower support portion of the holder.
Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,571, a dual-action concealable container holder slides out like a drawer and pivots like a swing-out shelf. The shelf is mounted so that it can both slide in and out of the housing and rotate about an axis other than the central axis of the housing. Two shelves can be mounted one over the other in a single housing such that the shelves rotate away from each other when moved out of the housing. A vertically rotatable support mounted on each shelf pivots from a horizontal position to a vertical position to provide support for the bottom of the beverage container inserted into the holder.